WASHINGTON  A violinist pierced the quiet of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda with the theme of Schindler's List on Thursday as hundreds of people listened in honor of 6 million Jews who were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The event, which included candle-lighting by six survivors of World War II concentration camps, marked the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 1 this year.

"We are transitioning from living memory to historical memory," White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten said, noting that many survivors have since died. He said the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany must serve as a reminder to fight genocide. "This commitment is being tested in Darfur," he said, referring to the western region in Sudan where government militias have killed villagers in a fight to defeat rebel groups.

Nationwide this week, Holocaust survivors are telling their stories at similar events in hopes the world won't let history repeat itself. In Bayonne, N.J., they were escorted to City Hall by Chai Riders, a Jewish motorcycle club. In Phoenix, the names of people who perished were read aloud over 12 hours.

The remembrance day, which usually is in April or May, depending on the Hebrew calendar, was started in 1959 by Israel's then-prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.

Since the early 1980s, Congress has held its own annual ceremony under the soaring 180-foot dome of the Rotunda.

The pageantry, including a procession of flags to recognize each U.S. Army division that liberated the camps, contrasted with the staid business going on one floor above, where House lawmakers debated procedural rules and the Senate wrangled over funding.

"It is nice that people remember," said Samuel Steinberg of Los Angeles, the only member of his family to survive the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. "We're very thankful."

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Samuel Steinberg, left, a Holocaust survivor, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., a World War II veteran, bow heads in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday.

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